The hotties will surely set temperatures soaring

Well this New Year’s Eve is going to be smoking hot for the people in Hyderabad as Poonam Pandey is all set to perform at a New Year’s party. Since the Nasha actress will be shooting for a song in the city for her upcoming Telugu film, Malini & Co, she was more than happy to be part of the event.

A source close to the actress said, “Poonam Pandey will be grooving on stage and she’ll select one lucky member from the audience, who will get a chance to dance with her in a song in Malini & Co. She’s very excited to perform in Hyderabad.”

There’s already a round of buzz that Sunny Leone will also perform in Hyderabad at a different venue. The Nawabi city is eagerly waiting for the Mastizaade actress to go live. With many actors celebrating New Year’s Eve abroad, some will celebrate performing at various occasions. These sexy sirens are definitely going make the party animals go weak in their knees.

The Dabangg girl is making her Kollywood debut with Rajinikanth’s Lingaa

Sonakshi Sinha is riding high on the buzz around the Tevar motion poster, featuring her and Arjun Kapoor. While twitter is flooded with Tevar pictures, the actress is busy filming her portions for Rajinikanth’s Lingaa.

The Dabangg babe tweeted,”Its time to sing and dance… In tamil!! Shooting the last song for Lingaa, royal and grand”. A song picturised on Rajinikanth and Sonakshi is being shot at Ramoji Film City,Hyderabad. If you jog your memory a little, you would remember that Sonakshi Sinha gathered a lot of attention while shooting in Mysore, so much so that the makers had arranged nearly 100 bodyguards to keep the crazy fans from intruding the sets.

While it is rumoured that Rajini would be playing a dual role in Lingaa, Sonakshi’s role has been kept under wraps. With Sona’s immense popularity down South, even before the release of her first Tamil film, we wonder if Jr Shotgun can actually beat Rajinikanth’s previous heroines Aishwariya Rai and Deepika Padukone in terms of fan following. Don’t be surprised if you find Ramoji Film City jam packed today. Sona is shooting!

Rohit Shetty has taken priority over the Rowdy Rathore director

Director Prabhudheva had to postpone the shooting of the elaborate climax of his upcoming film Action Jackson to July as its lead actor Ajay Devgn is busy with Singham Returns.

“This is the way Ajay planned the releases. He wants to complete Singham Returns first. The climax of Action Jackson, which is pending, would now be shot in the monsoon,” said a source.

And Prabhudheva is worried. He said: “It’s a very tough climax involving a large volume of cast, crew, finances and labour. But July would also be the time for torrential rains. So, I am keeping my fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong.”

Apparently, the director wants the July climax to be shifted to Hyderabad from Filmcity here. However, the producers insist on shooting here. ”We had no choice but to shift the climax to July as Ajay is busy with Singham Returns. But I’m sure everything will be fine. This is the first time I’ve worked with Ajay Devgn and I can tell you for sure this is going to be one of his most special films,” said Prabhudheva.

“Not only are his action sequences in Action Jackson unique, Ajay has also done a straight-faced humour here which would bring the roof down. No matter when we release, Ajay‘s fans will be happy,” he added.

Brahmin groups had demanded that the two controversial Telugu films should be banned

The Andhra Pradesh High Court Friday stayed the appointment of two panels by the state government to review two controversial Telugu films – A Woman in Brahmanism and Denikaina Ready. The two Telugu films triggered a row after Brahmin organisations alleged that the movies have hurt the sentiments of the community. The government had formed two separate committees after the organisations staged protests and demanded a ban on the movies.

The High Court, which heard the petitions by filmmakers to challenge the appointment of review committees, observed that the government has no power to appoint a panel after a film is cleared by the censor board. It directed that no action be taken with regard to the committees till further notice. A committee, headed by Women and Child Welfare Principal Secretary Neelam Sahani, Wednesday submitted a report recommending a ban on A Woman in Brahmanism.

The committee felt that the film was picturised with only an eye to “obscenity”. “The scenes in A Woman in Brahmanism are intended to hurt the sentiments of one particular caste and it is not acceptable for public screening,” the committee said in its report. The government had appointed another committee to review Denikaina Ready starring Vishnu Manchu, son of veteran actor Mohan Babu, who is also the producer of the film.

Brahmin organisations have been demanding a ban on the movie on the ground that it portrayed the community in poor light. The matter also reached the State Human Rights Commission last week after a group of people protesting against the movie in front of Mohan Babu’s house in Hyderabad were beaten up. Brahmin groups lodged a complaint with the rights commission while Vishnu filed a counter-complaint alleging that their house was attacked by the protesters. Some Brahmins were continuing their fast in Hyderabad, demanding a ban on the movie, which was released last month.

Literally! And we know this because the actor went in for jaw surgery right after that. But guess what, even that couldn’t keep this South star away from work. We wonder why…

Rana Daggubati is a busy man shuttling between Bollywood and Kollywood. And it was while shooting for the Tamil movie Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum that actor fell prey to a fight sequence. So what happened? “While shooting for KVJ in Hyderabad, Rana suffered a major jaw injury. He was shooting for an intense action sequence, which included a lot of muscle and hand fight like punches and kicks. Accidentally, he got punched really hard on his jaw and suffered an injury,” a birdie from the sets revealed. Oww!

Post that, we are told, the actor had to be rushed in to hospital for jaw surgery. But while we could only wince at this incident, we hear that Daggubati, being the toughie that he is, insisted that the shoot be resumed, much to director Krish’s horror. Thankfully, better sense prevailed and the shoot was called off. Phew!

Even so, the dude arrived on the sets right on time the next day. “He insisted on shooting and arrived sharp at his call time. He was surviving on a heavy dose of painkillers. He even decided to fulfill all his professional commitments that included making a few public appearances at events,” an insider revealed. Hmmm, what’s the hurry, Rana?

Are you by any chance following Bipasha Basu’s footsteps to drowning yourself in work after a break-up? We seriously couldn’t help wondering about it in the wake of the story about the “Rana Daggubati-Trisha Krishnan split“.

The popular Telugu actor said he only wants to concentrate on films

Junior NTR Monday ruled out leaving Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and also denied any differences within the family. “As far as I am concerned, I will remain with TDP till my last breath. There is no question of leaving TDP which is a value-based party founded by my grandfather,” said the actor. Grandson of TDP founder and former chief minister Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, Jr NTR told reporters in Hyderabad that his priority is films and hence he will not be entering active politics.

“I am only 28. I recently got married. I will concentrate only on films and family,” he said.

He denied any role in his friend and TDP legislator Kodali Nani’s plans to quit the party. On a day when Nani met YSR Congress party leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy in jail, Junior NTR said he had nothing to do with his move. He also condemned allegations that he is behind Nani’s decision to quit TDP. “Nani may have his own reasons. I am leaving it to him,” he said when asked if he would request the legislator not to quit TDP.

Junior NTR, who had campaigned for TDP in 2009 elections, denied any differences with TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and his uncle N Balakrishna. There have been reports in the recent past of a succession war between the families of Naidu and NTR. Moreover, Junior NTRs father N Harikrishna is reportedly unhappy with Naidu for reportedly grooming his son Nara Lokesh to take over the mantle. Harikrishna, a member of Rajya Sabha and TDP’s politburo, wants his son to take over reins of the party.

The TDP was founded in early 1980s by legendary Telugu actor NT Rama Rao, who was unseated from power by his son-in-law Chandrababu Naidu in August 1995. NTR died in January 1996. Naidu’s son is married to the daughter of NTR’s son, Balakrishna, a top Telugu actor who has already announced his plans to contest in the next assembly elections.

The Hyderabad boy took home the booty of Rs 6,17,00o

Vikas Khoker of Hyderabad won season 9 of youth reality show MTV Roadies on June 30. He defeated 13 contestants including seven women and six men and took away a cheque of Rs 6,17,00o. Abhishek Shetty, Himani Sharma, Vinay Abhishek, Anirudha Sharma, Arsh Shearif, Taranjeet Kaur, Manali, Diyali Chauhan, Pratima Dagar, Vikas Thokar, Kanak Raju, Khusbhu Patel and Dimpy Yadav were the other contestants of season nine.

The finale began with the ex-Roadies entering the location where they met the final four including Himani Sharma, Kanak Raju and Vinay Abhishek. Rajiv Lakshman along with his twin brother Raghu Ram judged the show this season.

Roadies 9 kickstarted from Jaipur and then moved to Delhi enroute the US. It became the first Indian reality show to have been shot in the US.

Veteran poet, lyricist and filmmaker Gulzar was awarded with an Honorary Doctorate in Urdu Literature by the Maulana Azaad National Urdu University (MANUU) on Saturday, March 3 in Hyderabad. Kapil Sibal, Minister of Human Resource Development presented the citation to Gulzar at the fourth convocation of the university. The university also conferred honorary doctorates Justice AH Ahmadi, former chief justice of the Supreme Court of India; Sukhdev Thorat, Chairman, Indian Council for Social Science and Research, and Mohammad Shamim Jairajpuri – former Vice-Chancellor of the university.

Over 154 films from 38 different countries are being screened at the festival from November 14-20, with more than 150,000 kids slated to watch them

Children’s cinema got a big boost Monday with the nation’s largest ever and one of the world’s biggest children’s film festival, ‘The Golden Elephant’ 17th International Children’s Film Festival organised by Children’s Film Society, India (CFSI) getting underway in Hyderabad. “In a global village, one has to compete with the world. This cannot be done until one is exposed to the world. This exposure should begin early. We are hence committed to Children’s cinema,” said Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy. At least 154 films from 38 different countries being screened across 13 theatres and over 150,000 children not just from the nooks and corners of the country but many from other countries who will watch these films: children’s film festival perhaps cannot get bigger than this.

Nandita Das, chairperson of CFSI, said, “Good cinema can have a very positive impact on the minds of children. Our intention with showing some carefully selected films from across the world was to cultivate children’s understanding of other cultures and experiences. Cinema can be both an entertaining and an educational tool.”

The festival boasts of a delectable line of children’s cinema produced in the two years since the last festival was held. Besides the usual suspects like the Hollywood animation films and Indian films like Chillar Party, I Am Kalam and Stanley Ka Dabba, the festival is screening some rarely seen but much applauded films from across the world made in different styles and languages. On one hand you have Tales of the Night, the latest animated feature by French master Michael Ocelot that was nominated for a Golden Berlin Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, while on the other there’s a rarely seen but brilliant Dutch film called Eep! which has surprisingly been missed by most festival circuits in the country. The festival thus ends up showing the variety of cinematic styles and the cutting edge work that is being done globally in children’s cinema. This year, it is doing another thing. It is highlighting the bold steps India is taking towards children’s cinema, a much neglected area so far. Besides the Indian films released in the theatres, the opening film of the festival is CFSI’s own production, Gattu directed by Rajan Khosa.

The Indian contingent in the festival is further strengthened by auteur Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s Woh, a magical fable that is based on a short story by Rabindranath Tagore. The festival thus becomes a must visit event not just for children, but adults in general. Yet, the focus is on kids.

There will be filmmaking and script writing workshops for kids, interaction with filmmakers and celebrities from India and abroad and catching up with kids who have come from different parts of the world. Open forums are meant to put the spotlight on children’s content in the country with filmmakers, writers, educators, parents and children coming together. A two day summit organised by FICCI is also on the cards. “We have tried our best to make the film festival as holistic as possible by including the entire gamut of children’s cinema. Now it is up to the kids to enjoy, and make this festival a success,” Nandita said.

The shoot for Krissh 2, the third film in the Krrish ‘triology’, as producer-director Rakesh Roshan calls it, will happen over three months in Hyderabad, starting January next year. Hrithik Roshan plays the lead, as expected, with Priyanka Chopra as his co-star, while Jacqueline Fernandez has replaced Chitrangda Singh as the baddie alien. Vivek Oberoi is the arch-villain, and is already training vigorously in martial arts for his role. The film, like Don 2, will be shot in 2D, but converted to 3D with a little help from a handy-dandy computer programme. Did you need to know more? Oh yes, a useful fact: You can watch it Diwali 2013!